Weekend Gazette 101814

Saturday October 18th 2014

Islamic State 'training pilots to fly fighter jets'

Iraqi pilots who have joined Islamic State are training its members in Syria to fly three captured fighter jets, according to a UK-based activist group that monitors the conflict.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said witnesses had seen the planes being flown around a military airport in Aleppo.
Meanwhile, Iraqi forces have launched an attack on IS militants near Tikrit.
The city was among the areas in Syria and Iraq seized by IS this year.
Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the SOHR, said IS was using Iraqi officers who were pilots under ex-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to train fighters in Syria.
"People saw the flights, they went up many times from the airport and they are flying in the skies outside the airport and coming back," he said.
Related: Former Iraqi pilots training ISIS fighters to fly captured Syrian jets, rights group says

'Dragon's Egg': Marines who guarded Saddam's mysterious bunker fear weapons unleashed

The U.S. Marines who guarded the sprawling complex in northwest Iraq where Saddam Hussein’s 1980s war machine churned out some of the most deadly chemical and biological weapons known to man had a name for one especially mysterious bunker: The Dragon’s Egg.
Although the Americans assigned to the Al Muthanna facility until 2008 were forbidden by superiors from peering inside the bunker, they knew the larger complex’s history. From 1983 to 1990, the brutal dictator’s scientists worked there, developing mustard, sarin, VX and Tabun gases for use on Iranian soldiers and Iraqi Kurds. And although it was under the control of U.S. and Iraqi military forces for most of the last decade, the entire facility - and whatever it held - is now firmly in the grasp of the Islamic State, the terrorist army that has claimed a vast swath of Iraq and Syria and allegedly used chemical weapons against Kurds this summer.

The X-shaped bunker, encased in cement and shrouded in mystery, was one of two that were handled differently from the many other bunkers that made up the facility, according to Lt. Joshua Hartley, who was stationed there in 2008. It was off-limits.
“We were made aware of a particular bunker on the north side [of Al Muthanna] which we were informed was sealed and remotely monitored,” Hartley, who served in the weapons company of the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, told FoxNews.com. “We were not to approach, and definitely not to attempt to enter.”
An Iraqi Army outpost was positioned immediately next to the Dragon’s Egg bunker, which was under constant observation. It was an open secret that the bunker contained vast amounts of Hussein’s most dangerous nerve agents, according to Hartley.

Iraq lawmakers approve new interior, defense ministers

BAGHDAD –  Iraqi lawmakers approved Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's nominees for the remaining posts in his government Saturday, including the critical posts of defense and interior ministers amid the fight against the extremist Islamic State group.
Control over the two powerful security ministries has long been a source of tension among Iraq's feuding political factions. The U.S. and other countries have been pushing for a more representative government that can reach out to Sunnis, who felt marginalized by former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Sunni discontent is widely seen as having fueled the Islamic State extremist group's dramatic advances in Iraq since June.

On Saturday, lawmakers approved Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban, a Shiite lawmaker with al-Abadi's State of Law political bloc, as Iraq's new minister of interior. Khaled al-Obeidi, a Sunni lawmaker from the besieged city of Mosul, was selected for the post of defense minister. Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurdish politician and Iraq's long-serving foreign minister, was named minister of finance, having previously been voted in as deputy prime minister.
Lawmakers approved most of al-Abadi's Cabinet on Sept. 8 and officially voted him in as prime minister, bringing a formal end to al-Maliki's eight-year rule, but al-Abadi requested a delay in naming defense and interior ministers because lawmakers had not agreed on his proposed candidates.

Lebanon pulled into war with ISIS

BEIRUT –  With all eyes on the Islamic State group's onslaught in Iraq and Syria, a less conspicuous but potentially just as explosive front line with the extremists is emerging in Lebanon, where Lebanese soldiers and Shiite Hezbollah guerrillas are increasingly pulled into deadly fighting with the Sunni militants along the country's border with Syria.
The U.S. has been speeding up delivery of small ammunition to shore up Lebanon's army, but recent cross-border attacks and beheading of Lebanese soldiers by Islamic State fighters — and the defection of four others to the extremists — has sent shockwaves across this Mediterranean country, eliciting fear of a potential slide into the kind of militant, sectarian violence afflicting both Syria and Iraq, and increasingly prompting minorities to take up arms.

The crisis was slow in coming.
For long, Lebanon managed to miraculously avoid the all-out chaos gripping neighboring countries — despite sporadic street clashes and car bombings, and despite being awash with weapons and taking in an endless stream of refugees from Syria who now constitute a staggering one third of its population of 4.5 million people.
Unlike in Syria or Iraq, the al-Qaida-breakaway Islamic State group does not hold territory in Lebanon. But along with Syria's al-Qaida affiliate, the Nusra Front, it has established footholds in remote mountains along Lebanon's remote eastern border, from where it launches almost daily incursions further afield.
Jihadi recruitment in impoverished Sunni areas of northern Lebanon is on the rise, and black Islamic State group flags fly freely in some areas, reflecting pockets of growing support for the radical group.
"Lebanon is in the eye of the storm," said Fadia Kiwan, a political science professor at Beirut's St. Joseph University.
The Lebanese are bitterly divided over Syria's civil war. Hezbollah fighters have gone to join Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces in their battle against Sunni rebels, drawing anger at home from Lebanon's Sunnis and stoking Sunni-Shiite tensions. This in turn led to tit-for-tat suicide bombings and several rounds of street clashes in Lebanon in the past year.



Report: Egypt arrests commander of Sinai jihadist group


Egyptian security forces apprehended the commander of a jihadist terror organization that has killed scores of soldiers and police in the Sinai Peninsula, Sky News' Arabic-language service reported on Friday.

Walid Waqed Atallah, the most wanted man in Egypt, is the head of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, a radical Islamist group that has also claimed credit for launching rockets at Eilat as well as executing suspected spies for Israel.

Atallah became the focus of a massive manhunt by Egyptian security forces after the murder of three policemen who were killed by a roadside bomb. 

New Members Join UN Security Council: Venezuela, New Zealand, Angola, Malaysia And Spain

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Turkey failed in its effort to join the U.N.'s most powerful body on Thursday, while Venezuela, New Zealand, Spain, Angola and Malaysia were elected to coveted Security Council seats.

Special attention had been on Turkey as it is under growing pressure to do more about the war in Syria pushing up against its border. Turkey lobbied heavily among the General Assembly's 193 member states for their votes, with its foreign minister hosting a party at the iconic Waldorf Astoria hotel the night before the vote.

In competition with New Zealand and Spain for two seats representing the western group of nations, Turkey fell behind as New Zealand easily gained a seat on the first ballot and Spain made it on the third.

"We could not abandon our principles for the sake of getting more votes," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in comments carried by the state-run Anadolu Agency.

The five winners will join the Security Council on Jan. 1 and serve through 2016 as non-veto-wielding members. They will replace Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, South Korea and Rwanda.

Venezuela's socialist government was unopposed for the single seat allocated to Latin America and the Caribbean. Angola was the only candidate for an African seat, and Malaysia had no opposition for an Asian seat.

Iran urged to hold an emergency Opec meeting due to falling oil prices

Iranian officials accuse Saudi Arabia for keeping crude prices low, saying Riyadh is serving western interest

Authorities in Iran have been urged to press for an emergency Opec meeting due the falling crude prices.
Iranian officials have pointed their finger at Saudi Arabia, saying it had deliberately kept prices low by manipulating Opec sales. Iran’s oil minister, Bijan Zanganeh, has been threatened with a parliament hearing to explain his approach.
Zanganeh implicitly blamed Riyadh for the situation. “Some of the biggest producers at Opec should reduce their sales,” he said, in what was widely viewed as a criticism of Saudi Arabia.
Other Iranian officials have been more candid with their views about Saudis. Masoud Mirkazemi, a former Iranian oil minister but now an MP, has threatened to summon Zanganeh to the parliament for his “passive” response to the falling oil prices.
Mirkazemi has accused the Saudis of conducting a political game and acting against the interests of Opec members.
“We should have an emergency Opec meeting so that countries like Saudi Arabia that pursue policies against producers’ interests would reduce their sale,” the ex-minister said, according to the conservative Tasnim news agency.
“Saudi Arabia, which intends to manage the Opec, serves the interests of the G20 group. We should not let Saudi Arabia to do this and our oil ministry should change its passive response to the issue,” he said.
Iran’s economy, which depends on oil for most of its exports revenue, has faced huge economic problems in recent years due to international sanctions imposed over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Ukraine crisis: 'No breakthrough' in Putin-EU talks

The presidents of Russia and Ukraine have held talks with the EU, but there has been no apparent breakthrough on how to end the crisis in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko - who were joined by EU leaders in Milan - described the talks as positive but also difficult.
The West says Russia is arming separatist rebels and sending troops to eastern Ukraine. Moscow denies this.
The presidents did say outlines of a deal on a gas dispute had been agreed.
"We have agreed on the main parameters of the contract," Mr Poroshenko said, adding that "we could not reach any practical results".
Mr Putin said there was "progress" on the issue but that questions remained on how Kiev would pay its huge gas debts - estimated to be $4.5bn (£2.8bn) - to Moscow.
Most Russian gas supplies to Europe are delivered via Ukraine, and Mr Putin has warned Europe of "major transit risks" unless Ukraine settles the row.
Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine in the summer, accusing Kiev of failing to pay its debts. Ukraine says the price set by Moscow is unfair.

Poland arrests two 'suspected Russian spies'

The authorities in Poland have arrested a Polish army officer and a lawyer for espionage, amid reports that they allegedly spied for Russia.

Prosecutor General Andrzej Seremet said they had been detained after months of investigation and were suspected of "hurting Poland's interests".
He did not say which foreign state was involved, but a Polish MP and Polish media said it was Russia.
Poland's relations with Russia have been strained by the Ukrainian crisis.
The former eastern bloc state, which joined Nato in 1999 and the EU in 2004, is one of Russia's strongest critics.
Marek Biernacki, a member of the Polish parliament's intelligence committee, told reporters: "Actions are being taken in respect of two agents of the Russian state."
The two unnamed detainees, he said, had worked for the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency.
The lawyer, who reportedly has joint Polish-Russian citizenship, is understood to have worked in Warsaw, specialising in economic matters, Polish radio said.

Many arrested as Hong Kong protesters retake protest camp

HONG KONG: Pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong clashed violently with police on Saturday as they reoccupied a protest camp mostly cleared the previous day, leading to multiple arrests and jeopardising government talks aimed at ending a political stalemate.

Police charged protesters using raised umbrellas for protection against pepper spray and batons on a busy main road in the bustling Mongkok district, but were forced into a partial retreat as the sun began to rise, to cheers from the crowd.

Activists rushed to rebuild makeshift barricades in an area police had opened to traffic 24 hours earlier, while thousands of others staged a sit-in at the protest camp that has existed for nearly three weeks, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

Hong Kong police said in a statement released early Saturday they had made 26 arrests in confrontations with a crowd that had swelled to 9,000 people by 3am (1900 GMT), with 15 officers sustaining injuries in the commotion.

It was the third consecutive night that violence has broken out after a fortnight of comparative calm — a development that risks sinking only recently resurrected plans to hold talks between student leaders and the city's Beijing-backed authorities.

Space plane: Mysterious US military plane returns to Earth

An unmanned US plane on a top-secret, two-year mission to space has returned to Earth and landed in California.

The aircraft, resembling a miniature space shuttle and known as the Orbital Test Vehicle or X-37B, spent 674 days in orbit around the planet.
It was the unmanned plane's third space flight, but its mission has been shrouded in mystery.
A theory that it was taking a look at China's space lab has been downplayed by experts.
Air Force officials have only told US media the aircraft performs "risk reduction, experimentation and concept-of-operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies".

The X-37B programme, started in 1999 and is currently run by the Air Force's Rapid Capabilities Office.

The first plane flew in April 2010 and returned after eight months. The second launched in March 2011 and remained in space for 15 months.
The current aircraft - built by Boeing - uses solar panels for power in orbit, measures over 29ft (9m) long, has a wingspan of nearly 15ft and a weight of 11,000lbs (4,989 kg).
It looks like a mini space shuttle and can glide back down through the atmosphere to land on a runway, just like Nasa's re-usable manned spaceplane used to do before its retirement.

What drove the stock market's wild swings this week, and what's next?

NEW YORK –  The stock market needs to see a therapist.

Temperamental, flighty, prone to violent mood swings, the market took investors on a wild ride this week. From one day to the next, even within a few hours, stocks swung from despair to optimism, deep losses to big gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 460 points at one point Wednesday, but pared most of those losses by the end of the trading day. On Friday, it surged 263 points. The difference between the Dow's high and the low for the week was the largest in nearly three years.

Investors seemed buffeted from every corner: Plunging oil prices, signs of a slowdown in Europe and fear of Ebola on the downside; strong corporate earnings and reassuring jobs market figures on the upside.
"We've entered a high-volatility market, and it's here to stay," said Bill Strazzullo, chief market strategist of Bell Curve Trading.

Here's a look at the factors driving the manic trading, and the outlook for next week:

EUROPEAN RECESSION?

Investors are afraid that Europe could slip into another recession, perhaps deeper than the one it emerged from just a year ago, and the slowdown could cut into U.S. corporate profits.
The bad news from Europe started piling up earlier this month. Germany, the region's biggest economy, said that manufacturing output fell. The International Monetary Fund cut its estimate of 2014 growth in the eurozone to an anemic 0.8 percent. Then came news on Tuesday that industrial production for the 18-country region plunged in August, and people really got spooked.
The Chinese economy, the world's second largest, is slowing, too.
"Can the U.S. continue to recover if the major drivers of the global economy — Europe and China — continue to struggle? I don't think so," said Bell Curve's Strazzullo. "I think we'll have subpar growth and you'll see that in the lower equity prices."

Even some optimists are worried.

"In this slowdown, it's more serious," said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities, referring to the eurozone. "It's Germany and France, not just the periphery countries (like Greece), that are causing the damage."
Still, Vitner added, the danger to the U.S. is easy to exaggerate. He noted that the U.S. is a relatively closed economy. Only 14 percent of U.S. economic output comes from exports, one of the lowest such shares in the world.
One measure of trouble in the eurozone to watch is its purchasing managers' index, a broad gauge of business activity. The next reading comes out Thursday.

OIL PRICE PLUNGE

Benchmark U.S. crude closed at the $82.75 a barrel on Friday, one its lowest prices in years. The drop has hammered energy companies this month. Two Dow members, Chevron and Exxon Mobil, have fallen 6 percent and 3 percent, respectively.
Ultimately, the drop in oil could be good for stocks, though. That's because a fall in prices means drivers will end up paying much less to fill up their tanks, leaving them more money to spend on other things, like travel and clothes and dinners out.
Gas at the pump has already fallen to less than $3 a gallon in some parts of the country, noted USAA Investment Assistant Vice President John Jares in a report on Wednesday. He wrote that the drop in gas could prove a "boon to retailers" in the holiday shopping season, and cited it as one reason USAA mutual funds were buying stocks this week.

Supreme Court Allows Texas Voter ID Law

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Saturday that Texas can use its controversial new voter identification law for the November election.
A majority of the justices rejected an emergency request from the Justice Department and civil rights groups to prohibit the state from requiring voters to produce certain forms of photo identification in order to cast ballots. Three justices dissented.
The law was struck down by a federal judge last week, but a federal appeals court had put that ruling on hold. The judge found that roughly 600,000 voters, many of them black or Latino, could be turned away at the polls because they lack acceptable identification. Early voting in Texas begins Monday.

The Supreme Court's order was unsigned, as it typically is in these situations. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented, saying they would have left the district court decision in place.
"The greatest threat to public confidence in elections in this case is the prospect of enforcing a purposefully discriminatory law, one that likely imposes an unconstitutional poll tax and risks denying the right to vote to hundreds of thousands of eligible voters," Ginsburg wrote in dissent.
Texas' law sets out seven forms of approved ID — a list that includes concealed handgun licenses but not college student IDs, which are accepted in other states with similar measures.
The 143-page opinion from U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos called the law an "unconstitutional burden on the right to vote" and the equivalent of a poll tax in finding that the Republican-led Texas Legislature purposely discriminated against minority voters in Texas.

Senior NSA official moonlighting for private cybersecurity firm

• Patrick Dowd recruited by former NSA director Keith Alexander
• Unusual for US official to work for private, for-profit company

The former director of the National Security Agency has enlisted the US surveillance giant’s current chief technology officer for his lucrative cybersecurity business venture, an unusual arrangement undercutting Keith Alexander’s assurances he will not profit from his connections to the secretive, technologically sophisticated agency.
Patrick Dowd continues to work as a senior NSA official while also working part time for Alexander’s IronNet Cybersecurity, a firm reported to charge up to $1m a month for advising banks on protecting their data from hackers. It is exceedingly rare for a US official to be allowed to work for a private, for-profit company in a field intimately related to his or her public function.
Reuters, which broke the story of Dowd’s relationship with IronNet, reported that the NSA is reviewing the business deal.
Since retiring from the NSA in March and entering the burgeoning field of cybersecurity consulting, Alexander has vociferously defended his ethics against charges of profiting off of his NSA credentials. Alexander was the founding general in charge of US Cyber Command, the first military command charged with defending Defense Department data and attacking those belonging to adversaries. Both positions provide Alexander with unique and marketable insights into cybersecurity.
His final year as the agency’s longest serving director was characterised by reacting to Edward Snowden’s disclosures – and the embarrassment of presiding over the largest data breach in the agency’s history – and publicly urging greater cybersecurity cooperation between the agency and financial institutions.
“I’m a cyber guy. Can’t I go to work and do cyber stuff?” Alexander told the Associated Press in August. 

Drifting Russian fuel ship is towed away from Canada coast

Canadian coast guards have attached a tow line to a Russian container ship drifting without power in rough seas off British Columbia.

The Simushir cargo ship is carrying hundreds of tons of fuel, prompting fears it could run aground and cause a spill along the pristine coast.
A Canadian ship is now towing the vessel away at a speed of 1.5 knots.
It had been thought the ship might hit Haida Gwaii, known as the Queen Charlotte Islands.
Further bad weather is expected and government officials say preparations are being made in the event of a fuel spill. 
A nearby First Nation community said that would be a "catastrophic event".
The Canadian coast guards' ship the Gordon Reid arrived late on Friday. A tugboat is set to join both vessels early Saturday morning and help tow the Simushir to Prince Rupert, British Colombia.
Sub Lt. Melissa Kia of Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt said three more vessels, including a US coast guard ship were also on their way.
The ship, with a crew of 11, lost power early on Friday morning as it made its way from the US state of Washington to Russia.
The captain was rescued by a Cormorant helicopter because he was injured.
Memories of oil spills loom large in British Columbia, where residents remember the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989.

Hawaii residents brace for huge waves, high winds as Hurricane Ana passes south of islands

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii –  Hurricane Ana was carving a path just south of Hawaii, sending strong waves pounding some shorelines and producing strong enough winds for officials to urge caution.
The center of the powerful Pacific storm was expected to remain 150 miles away from the Big Island as it passed late Friday night.

Forecasters late Friday said there was little chance for hurricane conditions on the islands, but a tropical storm watch remained in effect throughout the archipelago and winds were expected to reach nearly 40 mph.
"Any of the islands could experience tropical storm impacts...so it's important to still prepare and make plans," said Chris Brenchley, a weather service meteorologist.
Waves were expected to crest to 10 to 15 feet on both the North and South shores of Hawaii's islands late Saturday and to remain tall through Sunday.
The National Weather Service said Friday that Ana became a Category 1 hurricane about 230 miles south of Hilo with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph. It was churning along its course at 13 mph.
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No US travel ban over Ebola - Obama

US President Barack Obama has ruled out imposing a travel ban on Ebola-hit regions of West Africa.

He said isolating an entire region, a move urged by some Republicans, would make the situation worse.
Mr Obama urged Americans not to give in to hysteria, stressing that the two cases contracted in the US were not an epidemic or an outbreak.
The virus has killed about 4,500 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, according to the UN.
Mr Obama said the best way to tackle the disease was at its source, before it spreads.
"Trying to seal off an entire region of the world, if that were even possible, could actually make the situation worse," he said.
"It would make it harder to move health workers and supplies back and forth.
"Experience shows that it could also cause people in the affected region to change their travel, to evade screening, and make the disease even harder to track."
He stressed that the US was not in the middle of an outbreak or an epidemic and urged Americans to stay calm.
However, the New York Times has reported that the president was furious with his aides over an inadequate response to the disease.
The newspaper said medical officials had given information that turned out to be wrong, local guidance was inadequate and categories of threats were unclear.

Kay Hagan: Obama Should 'Immediately' Impose Ebola Flight Ban

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) on Friday called on President Barack Obama to impose a temporary travel ban on non-U.S. citizens from countries in West Africa that have been affected by the Ebola virus, urging the administration to take action "immediately."
"I have said for weeks that travel restrictions should be one part of a broad strategy to prevent Ebola from spreading in the U.S. and fighting it in Africa," Hagan said. "I am calling on the Administration to temporarily ban the travel of non-U.S. citizens from the affected countries in West Africa. Although stopping the spread of this virus overseas will require a large, coordinated effort with the international community, a temporary travel ban is a prudent step the President can take to protect the American people, and I believe he should do so immediately."
Hagan isn't the only Senate Democrat to call for flight restrictions in light of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, but she is one of the first Democrats facing a tough re-election battle to do so. Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), who is also struggling to hold onto his seat, endorsed a travel ban Thursday on non-citizens coming to the United States from affected regions in West Africa as well.  

Other vulnerable Democrats, such as Sen. Mark Warner (Va.) and Sen. Mark Begich (Alaska), have walked a finer line by urging Obama to assess the situation and consider appropriate flight restrictions. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is not calling for a travel ban yet, but wants the administration "to expand the current screenings from five to all 20 airports in the United States where tourists, international workers and business leaders from West Africa arrive," her office told HuffPost.
Hagan's statement comes as Republicans, including her opponent, Thom Tillis, have spent recent weeks ramping up attacks on Democrats over the administration's response to Ebola. Republicans have sought to portray Democrats as weak on border and national security, a strategy that has borne fruit in some high-profile races.
President Barack Obama has argued that a travel ban would be counterproductive to combating the virus.

White House: ISIS fighters in Syrian town creating ‘target-rich environment’ for US

Military and White House officials said Friday that the fierce fighting in the Syrian border town of Kobani has created an opportunity to take out large numbers of Islamic State fighters pouring into the battle. 
Though the fighting has raised concerns that the vital town could still fall to the Islamic State, Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, head of U.S. Central Command, claimed Friday that there's an upside for the U.S. and its allies. 

"The enemy has made a decision to make Kobani his main effort," Austin said, claiming "manpower" is streaming into the area. 
"Now, my goal is to defeat and ultimately destroy ISIL. And if [the enemy] continues to present us with major targets ... then clearly, we'll service those targets, and we've done so very, very effectively here of late," Austin said. 
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest echoed the point, saying the Islamic State is amassing fighters and resources in Kobani. 
"That has created a rather target-rich environment around Kobani for American and coalition air strikes that when they see clusters of fighters or they see depots of material or supplies that are critical to the success of those fighters, it's easier to take them out," Earnest said. 
While touting the opportunity to take out a large number of targets in Kobani, military officials nevertheless cautioned against expecting quick progress in the overall campaign against ISIS, or ISIL.

Houston withdraws legal demand to see pastors' sermons in gay rights battle

• City still seeks wide range of church documents
• Pastors campaigning to repeal gay rights ordinance

Houston city attorneys are no longer seeking through subpoenas sermons from five pastors who publicly opposed an ordinance banning discrimination against gay and transgender residents.
Mayor Annise Parker said on Friday that the city was backing off the sermon request but would not withdraw the subpoenas, which seek other information from the pastors as part of a lawsuit over a petition drive to repeal the equal rights ordinance.
“They were too broad,” Parker said at a news conference. “They were typical attorney language in a discovery motion. They were asking for everything but the kitchen sink.”
While the word “sermons” was being deleted from the subpoenas, the revised request for other speeches or presentations was appropriate, Parker said.
“This is not about what anyone is preaching; this is not about their religion; it’s not about the free exercise of religion,” she said. “It is our right to defend the city and asking legitimate questions about the petition process.”
In May, the city council passed the equal rights ordinance, which consolidates city bans on discrimination based on sex, race, age, religion and other categories and increases protections for gay and transgender residents. Parker, who is gay, and other supporters said the measure is about offering protections at the local level against all forms of discrimination in housing, employment and services provided by private businesses such as hotels and restaurants.
Religious institutions are exempt, but city attorneys recently subpoenaed the pastors, seeking all speeches, presentations or sermons related to the repeal petition.

Justin Trudeau: My father said 'I should never feel compelled to run for office'

Pierre Trudeau, who knew firsthand the toll that politics could take on one's marriage and family life, told his eldest son there would be no pressure from him to enter politics, writes Justin Trudeau in his first memoir. 
The revelation is contained in Common Ground, which is published by HarperCollins Canada and will be publicly released on Monday.

• How Justin Trudeau's memoir is a political 'rite of passage'
• ANALYSIS | Chalk one up for Justin Trudeau's Senate surprise

His dad, whom he called "Papa" because he spoke French to him, served as Canada's prime minister for 15 years. But Pierre's marriage to Margaret crumbled by the time Justin was 13.
Trudeau shared his dad's counsel with his wife Sophie in the spring of 2012, when he started to seriously consider a run at the Liberal leadership.
The once mighty Liberal Party of Canada had suffered a devastating blow following the 2011 federal election, being reduced to the worst showing in the party's history.
"I recalled for Sophie that my father had once told me I should never feel compelled to run for office. 'Our family has done enough,'" Trudeau says his father told him.
Trudeau's biography, at age 42, comes 12 months ahead of next year's election, which is scheduled for Oct. 19, 2015. Like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other leaders before him, the memoir is Trudeau's attempt at defining himself before his political opponents do it for him.
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